Stepping out of high school, I thought college was going to be hard, but not this hard. College to me has been anything but easy. It has been a very eye opening experience so far and has expanded my mentality a significant. All the countless amount of hours spent doing homework and studying for tests. The loss of sleep due to all those countless hours of homework. Feeling tired at soccer practice because of all those countless hours of homework. Stressing about how to pay for college. Which impact my performance of game days. If I could use a quote to describe college it would be this quote by Joseph P. Kennedy, "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going". I'm just siting here wondering when the tough will get going! Being a full time student athlete and not being financially privileged or even privileged is not easy. There's nothing I can do about that. The only thing I can do is "have the tenacity to grow in the concrete and reach out towards the sun." I can only make the hours count.
One of the things that has definitely made college hard for me is capital. College is very expensive. Paying for classes, paying for textbooks, paying for school supplies and school necessities it's very expensive. Financial aid is a lot of help, but it won't cover other things like food, clothing, and basic everyday needs. In order to be able to afford college you might need to get a part time job. So you get a part time job, which usually starts paying you at eight dollars. So you being to get money and having a little extra cash in your pocket. Don't forget you need to pay for gas for your car to get to school or to get to work, and pay your insurance, and pay any car maintenance. Maybe you need to get up really early to catch the bus and buy your monthly bus pass. You have all this going on, and you suddenly realize... When are you going to have time to do your homework? When are you going to have time to study for that big math final? It is hard to try and balance everything out. Oh I forgot to add, when are you going to sleep and eat? "I hardly have time for anything, I am under a tight schedule." said my friend Juan, who works, is a full time student, and is a athlete at Chabot College. "I'm really stressed about everything, I just need to do whatever is in front of me and not worry about the rest until I have to do the rest later". Statistics show that "the annual family income of more than 47% of undergraduates is less than $40,000." according to the The Chronicle of High Education's almanac. So, you see that a lot of students don't have another option. They must work in order to pay for college. That has certainly been the situation for me.
Another thing that has made my college experience difficult has to be being a athlete. I am currently a soccer player for Chabot's Mens soccer team. It also has not been easy. I've played soccer since I discovered I was pretty good at it, I was 12. Soccer has been something that has helped me through all my years of school. Since high school, I've had to keep a certain grade point average or higher in order to become eligible to play. So, it has been like a little reminder in my head to do another hour of homework. Playing soccer for Chabot has been great. We practice everyday for 3 hours. We have our home games which are on Fridays and our away games which are on Tuesdays. Away games are better, but the traveling is horrible! Being stuck in traffic at 7 p.m. after playing a full 90 minutes is not fun. I always remember sitting on the bus complaining on all the homework I have to do when I get home, and being physically drained does not help! All the running and fitness we have to do is astonishing, but you have to do what you have to do. My coach always reminds us that studies come first over everything, so that thought always runs in my head while i'm running. I know that playing soccer has a very big impact in school because I can get scouted to a 4 year University. So I know I have to give it my best on and off the field.
One strategy I have in order to be successful in college is to forget about my privilege and do what I can. I come from a hard background. I left my hometown to go to college. I left because I knew there was going to be too many distractions at home. I have cousins that took a years off after high school to be lazy and do whatever they want. I ask them now if they regret it and one of them said "yes, I should of just kept my momentum going. Now, i'm playing catch up while almost all my friends are done with school." I also left because I wanted my family not to worry about me. I have two younger brothers. One just started middle school and the other just started elementary. My mom is also my father. She works in order to maintain us. So, I left so my mom wouldn't have to worry about giving me money or just to worry about me in general. I know my brothers now need more attention that I do. It wasn't easy leaving all my family and close friends behind, but I only think about the future. I know i'll look back when I graduate college and realize I did the right thing, that leaving and really focusing in college for 4 years was the biggest and best sacrifice I've done. After I graduate college, I'll know ill be able to help my mom and my brothers in every way possible. I don't use my privilege as an excuse to not go to school. Instead, I use it as a motivator to be the first to graduate from college and set a example to my two little brothers.
Another strategy I have in order to be successful in college is to handle the problems in front of me. College is difficult already, but the age i'm at right now is what makes it the hardest. I'm 19, I want to go out and be young and hangout with friends and things like that. I know there is a time and place for everything too, so I don't let it get to me as much as it usually did. I'm always thinking about future things I have to do and that makes me stress out. It has gotten to the point were I've had total breakdowns. Always thinking of all the school work I had to do, all the studying I should be doing, work, and soccer. I have a lot set on my plate and a lot more to come, but I realized that you have to deal with problems in the order they come. Its almost like a math assignment, you have to start on question 1 in order to get to 2 and 3 and so on. A lot of life's questions aren't always meant to be solved right away. They are answered in time. So I have to do the best of my ability to worry about what is in front of me. There is going to be time to worry about the next question later. It's like Andrade said "what we know is that some roses will still find a way to grow in the concrete". I know there is a way for me to grow up and mature and focus on what I have to focus on first.
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